Bashing Naipaul: History, Myth and Refusals to See

Abstract Bashing V.S. Naipaul’s travel books on India, the Caribbean, the Islamic World and Africa has produced a massive body of writing since the 1980s. Focusing on his perceived racism and Islamophobia, this literature seeks to thoroughly discredit Naipaul as a reliable chronicler of the lives of the victims of Western imperialism. Condemned, indeed, as an apologist for Western imperialism, Naipaul’s admitted brilliance as a writer of fiction has been dulled by these accusations. There is much truth in these critiques, but they are based on arguments that range from the accurate to the problematic to the quite simply wrong. Too many attacks on Naipaul’s work come from writers who have a limited knowledge of the body of his work or who misconstrue the knowledge they do have. Stepping back from the assault on Naipaul reveals important reasons to re-examine and rethink the meanings of his work and the lives it chronicles.